


'Don't you abandon him'

by Mycroffed



Series: The Airport Happenings [4]
Category: Cabin Pressure, Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Basically, Cabin Pressure meets the Avengers, M/M, and that's about all you need to know, not Zurich compliant, semi Age of Ultron compliant, they're in a long distance relationship, you don't need to read the rest of the series to catch up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-05 19:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4192530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mycroffed/pseuds/Mycroffed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin is finally invited to the Avengers Tower, along with the rest of the crew from MJN. But the friends from both sides try to protect their friend from being heartbroken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Because someone recently asked for it and I had a nice idea. I hope you like it. Thanks for reading, kudoing and commenting.

It was about eight months into their relationship that Tony finally invited Martin to the Avengers Towers in New York. He had been hesitant to invite the captain to the other Avengers, since his friends tended to take protecting him rather seriously. So he wouldn’t be surprised if they would take him away from him, one by one, just to talk to him and make sure that he wasn’t going to hurt him in any way. He was going to talk about that to them.

So the day Martin was supposed to arrive – one of his conditions had been that the rest of his crew was invited as well – Tony had made a few objections about that since he had no idea how Douglas and Carolyn would get on with the others – he called the Avengers together to talk about the man that was coming over.

Once everybody was there, he started talking. “Alright, so you’ve all heard about Martin by now.” Most of the Avengers nodded – Clint didn’t, he was too busy gazing at Phil, who was standing next to him and gently massaging the archer’s shoulders – and Tony couldn’t help but stare at the agent, who quickly got uncomfortable and stopped massaging. He then gave Clint a little nudge, after which the archer paid actual attention to what Tony was saying.

“So he’s coming over with his crew and I would appreciate it if you would not kill them in any way. Yes, Barton, I’m looking directly at you.”

“Aww, come on, Tony, that was only once. And it was an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt your one night stand. And in my defence, she had been the one who came barging into the shooting range and ran in front of the target.”

“Well, for a guy who never misses, you’re blaming a hell of a lot on missing your target.”

Clint opened his mouth to complain about that, but Natasha – who was sitting on his other side – nudged him as well. When he turned to her and signalled _What did you do that for?_ She just shook her head. This wasn’t the time to engage Tony. He was nervous enough about Martin meeting them already.

With an appreciative nod at Natasha, Tony started again. “So he is also bringing his First Officer Douglas Richardson and the manager of their airdot Carolyn Knapp-Shappey. Oh and of course, Arthur Shappey is coming as well. He is a bit of a fanboy, but we all know how to handle that, don’t we? Douglas is a bit fanboy as well, but the fact that he’s a fifty something pilot makes him act less on it. But he’s the one who will try to get your stuff for less than they’re worth. And he used to have sticky fingers. So be careful around him, alright?” Tony hadn’t meant to tell them all of that, but it was kind of necessary.

“Tony, stop worrying. We’ll all be on our best behaviour, right, guys?” Steve said as he looked around to all the other Avengers. When nobody reacted, he repeated his last two words. “Right guys?”

After some exchanged looks between the other Avengers, they all nodded hesitantly, not wanting to promise anything about their behaviour towards people they didn’t know at all.

“So, just to be completely clear.” Thor was the first one to speak again after Steve had opened his mouth. “Your lady Martin is coming over to see us and she’s bringing her friends?”

“First of all, Martin’s a guy and second of all, he is not my lady…” Tony was suddenly flustered as he couldn’t help but imagine Martin in a dress. God damn, he thought to himself, he should definitely try to convince him to do that.

“He’s a guy?” Thor repeated. In Asgard, people tended to go for straight couples, in fact, he hadn’t heard about any gay couple, so he was genuinely surprised that Tony fell for a guy.

“Yes, he is. Got a problem with that?” Tony challenged the Asgardian.

“No of course not.” Thor shook his head as Bruce placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “My friend Banner says it’s fine, so it’s fine.”

After a brief glare at Thor, Tony got up and walked towards the helipad. Martin was supposed to arrive in about half an hour and he was in no mood to argue more with Thor about whether or not gays were accepted. Steve would subconsciously pick that man’s side, since that was just the way he grew up, even if he would tell Tony that he was perfectly alright with it.

He hated the fact that Thor had assumed that Martin was a lady, just because he had fallen in love with him. As he sat in his helicopter, he took a deep breath to calm down his nerves. Because, damn, was he nervous. He’d never admit that, of course, not to anyone, but he knew deep down that he was.

He took off, straight to the airport where Martin would land. They had been keeping contact and sending emails and texts throughout the last six months, but after that pizza date with Martin’s freak-out, they hadn’t seen each other again. And Tony had genuinely missed the pilot. Even more, he hadn’t had any form of sex ever since.

He arrived at the airport about ten minutes before Martin was supposed to land his plane and he made sure he got to the right gate. As he was waiting there – after paying a few tips to the people who were trying to get him away from there – he got out his phone. He wanted to text Martin, he really did, but what was the point? By now, he’d be busy trying to land the plane. So he just started one of the Avengers games that had been released briefly after their first mission together as he waited for Martin to come out.

 

*

 

Martin had been so glad that Tony had invited him over to New York. When he had told the rest of his crew and had asked if they could drop them off in New York, they had cornered him to convince Tony to let them come over as well. They – which meant mostly Douglas and Arthur – wanted to meet the Avengers desperately. So Martin had had no choice but give in.

And then the day to go to America finally arrived. Right before they landed, Martin called everyone in the flight deck. Douglas and Carolyn had a suspicion about what he wanted to talk about, but they tried not to say anything, so that Martin would talk to them. Even if he was just genuinely concerned, they could always tease him about it later.

“Alright, so we’re going to land in ten minutes and before we land, I’d like to talk to you. So I know that for some of you…” he looked at Arthur. “This is all very exciting. But please try to respect their privacy. Tony is inviting us in their home, so we need to behave like guests. Could you at least try not to get on their wrong side, because I don’t want to lose Tony. He’s the best thing that has happened to me in a while.”

Douglas and Carolyn looked at the pilot with a certain fondness. Of course they would never let Tony give him up. After all, the man had done miracles to Martin’s confidence. And his happiness. Now Martin could bounce around the cabin when he got a mail or a text from his boyfriend.

“Of course, Martin. We’ll be on our best behaviour, won’t we, Douglas.” Carolyn couldn’t help but pity Martin just a little bit since he was practically exploding with nerves.

Douglas nodded. “Of course. Of course we’ll be on our best behaviour, what else would we be?”

“Thanks guys.” Martin smiled softly. “That means a lot to me.”

The others just smiled at him until Ground Control informed them which runway to take. And that meant that the conversation was over.

 

*

 

Once they had landed, Martin left the cleaning up of the plane entirely to the rest of his crew as he ran out of the plane towards the man that was waiting for him. He couldn’t help but grin widely as he arrived there and pulled the billionaire into a deep kiss. “God, I’ve missed you.” Martin whispered softly as he pulled away from the man for just a couple of seconds.

“Me too, Martin, me too.” He couldn’t help but smile as he held his boyfriend in his arms again. “Six months is way too long to be without each other.” He hummed as he brushed his lips against the other.

Martin kissed Tony once again in an attempt to express his agreement about this. His field of vision narrowed until all he could see was Tony and how he was kissing the man he had grown to love. He wouldn’t tell him, of course not, but he did think that Tony might be the love of his life.

It was the clearing of someone’s throat that brought him back to the present. And he pulled away from the billionaire, a bright blush spreading over his face. “Tony, you’ve met them before. Carolyn Knapp-Shappey, Douglas Richardson and Arthur Shappey.” He pointed at each and every one of them.

Arthur was bouncing around, filled with excitement that he was going to meet not only Iron Man again, but also the rest of the Avengers. He was a big fan of Captain America and the idea that he would meet him excited him to the core of his being.

Tony smiled at every one of them. “Hello again.” He was polite – of course he was, he knew how much these guys meant to Martin.

“Hello!” Arthur beamed. “Nice to meet you again, Iron Man.”

“Arthur, I’ve told you before, it is Tony, not Iron Man.” Martin interjected. Tony couldn’t help but smile proudly at the captain. He had changed in those six months. He was so much more… Martin. Tony smiled softly as he wrapped his arms around the man. He knew that last time, he would’ve squirmed out of the embrace, but now, Martin just seemed to lean back and melt against his chest.

“It doesn’t matter, Martin, really.” Tony said as he kissed the base of Martin’s neck. “He can call me whatever he wants.”

“Thanks Iron Man.” Arthur beamed at him.

“You know what surprises me?” Douglas asked. “Not the fact that you’re being so ridiculously couple-y or anything, but the fact that the rest of the Avengers aren’t here to welcome us.”

“Douglas…” Martin hissed. “Shut up.”

“What? It’s a good question, isn’t it?” Douglas might be teasing the man just a little bit, but he wasn’t going to admit that, no way.

Tony couldn’t help but laugh softly at the two of them. “I forbid them to come. They’ll be waiting in the Tower. And to be honest, they’re all very excited to meet you, Martin.”

“Are they?” Martin asked softly. “Really? Tony, I don’t…. I don’t want to disappoint them or anything.”

And here he was, the old captain Crieff. Nervous as hell about the people around him. “Martin, it’s going to be fine, just be yourself.”

Martin took a deep breath and nodded. “Alright, I’ll do my best; I’ll try not to disappoint anyone.” He leaned once again into Tony’s touch and kissed his jawline. “Can we go now?”

Tony nodded and guided everybody towards his helicopter so that they could take off and go to the Tower.

 

*

 

The flight in the helicopter was tediously boring. Yes, he was the one flying, but he only wanted to kiss Martin, touch him, be close to him. He might be sitting next to him, but it was still too far for his liking. Once they finally arrived there, all of them got out of the helicopter to face the Avengers, standing there, all in a row.

Martin got out first, followed closely by Douglas, Carolyn and Arthur. Tony was the last one to get out of there. The Avengers stayed quiet as the four of them got out and stood in a row to match the line the Avengers were forming.

“Hi, I’m Martin.” The captain said softly. “Nice to meet you all.”

Arthur didn’t even introduce himself, he just ran towards Captain America and pulled the man in a hug. “You’re cool.” He said softly. With a fond grin, Steve slowly pushed the boy away.

“So are you.” He whispered softly before he turned to the other Avengers. “This is Clint Barton, Phil Coulson, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner and Thor. I’m Steve Rogers.”

Martin quickly introduced everybody on his side. It was when he was done that Tony appeared next to him and pulled him in his arms. “Pretty sure you already know who that is.” Martin sounded slightly amused before he snuggled once again into Tony’s side.

Clint let out an amused bark of a laugh. “Oh yes we do.” He grinned widely. “Why don’t you all come inside? You could join us for dinner. Or whatever meal you are supposed to have right now.”

Carolyn nodded. “Of course, that sounds like a wonderful idea.” She walked towards the rest of the group as they got inside, followed by a couple that would rather be somewhere else than at the dinner table.


	2. Dinnertime

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it. The next chapter will probably be posted sometime after monday (my last exam - yippee). Thanks for reading, kudoing and commenting!

Martin tried to stay as close to Tony as he could as the Avengers guided them to the dining room. He was pretty impressed with the Avengers and how they all seemed to act like it was perfectly normal that Tony brought his boyfriend and his crew along. He wished he could think about it more, but he was too distracted by the fact that his boyfriend was standing next to him, with his hand on the pilot’s lower back.

When he thought nobody was looking, he turned to Tony and got on his tiptoes to steal a tiny kiss from the billionaire. Tony hummed softly into the kiss and pulled the pilot closer to him. He wanted to tell him how much he had missed him, but they were too busy kissing. What had started as a tiny kiss, nothing more than a little tease, had grown to become a deep, mind-blowing, desperate kiss, exchanged between lovers who hadn’t seen each other in way too long.

It was a whistle that brought him back to the present. He pulled away from Tony, blushing brightly, to look at an amused Clint. “Now that the kissing is done and dealt with, are you coming to dinner?”

Phil suddenly appeared behind the archer. “Come on, Clint. As if we’re not the same after six months apart. Leave them be.”

Clint just shook his head, before he turned around and, holding Phil’s hand, walked back to the dining room, expecting the other couple to follow the two of them.

“I’m sorry about him.” Tony whispered softly in Martin’s ear. “Just ignore the two of them. Clint doesn’t know when to stop sometimes and Phil is too in love with him to stop in; Plus, they have been on separate missions the last three weeks.”

Martin looked up at the billionaire with a small frown on his face. “You mean…. I knew Hawkguy- I mean, Clint, I know he’s an agent, but is the other one as well? I mean, the Phil guy?”

Tony couldn’t help but chuckle as the pilot called Clint _Hawkguy_. He was never going to let the man forget it. “It’s Hawkeye, honeypuff, but you call him Hawkguy if you want.”

The blush that already was present on Martin’s face only deepened as he realized his mistake. “Uh… Did he hear it by any chance?”

“I did!” Clint called from the other room. “Thanks to the hearing aids Tony made for me.”

Martin looked like he wanted to disappeared from the surface of the Earth at that particular moment. “I-I… uh… I’m sorry?”

The Archer walked closer to the two of them and smiled amused. “It’s okay, Martin. You’re not the first one who called me Hawkguy. Come on, I put a lot of effort into the dinner. Are you coming or not?”

“Y-you made dinner?” Martin exchanged looks between Tony and the archer as he bit his lip. “I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed that you couldn’t… I… I should just shut up now.” Martin looked down and almost hid himself in Tony’s side as he forced his mouth to stop moving.

Clint was laughing softly at the nervousness of the pilot. “Come on, Martin, let’s have dinner. Tony, bring him to the table.”

 

*

 

When everybody was sitting down around the table and everybody had food on their plate, they all started eating. They enjoyed the food Clint had made for all of them. There were small conversations, mainly between Steve and an Arthur who was struck with awe, between Carolyn and Douglas and between the different Avengers. Apart from Tony and Martin and Steve and Arthur, there were no crossovers between the two groups.

Tony decided that he would need to change that after dinner, when everybody was sitting in a sofa with a drink in their hands. So when, after dinner, he got up to go and get the drinks, he was surprised when Carolyn walked after him.

“Tony, we need to talk.” The white haired woman said as soon as the two of them were alone. “First of all, I need you to know that I’m glad that you and Martin have found each other, I really do.”

With one gesture of his hand, he stopped the woman. “I know where this is going, Shappey, and I’m not going to let you give me this speech.”

“You’re wrong, Stark, you are going to let me give you the speech. Because if you won’t let me, I’m taking Martin with me and I’m returning to England, is that understood?”

Tony sighed, but gestured at her to go on. “Fine. Say whatever you want, it’s not like I am going to listen.”

“I haven’t dealt with Russian billionaires and princesses, just to be ordered around by you. You’re going to listen, Stark, you know you are.”

Tony rolled his eyes at her. He wasn’t impressed by her glares and her snappy remarks. She reminded him of his father, just the tiniest bit and he had learned not to care about their disapproval or anything like that. “Talk ahead, Shappey, and be interesting.”

“Don’t you dare abandon him.” She said, dryly. “He’s finally enjoying life, he is finally _happy._ I’m not going to let you take that all away simply because you’ve grown tired of him. So if you’re dumping him, I’m going to find you and kick your ass, no matter if you’re Iron Man or not.”

Tony shook his head, surprised at the strong reaction from the woman. “I’m not going to abandon him, Carolyn.” A frown appeared on his forehead. “Of course I won’t. I love him for god’s sake.”

Carolyn’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You _love_ him? Then why haven’t you told him that?”

“I can’t tell him that, not yet. I… I don’t even know if he loves me yet.” He sighed. “What if he… What if he doesn’t love me back?”

Now it was Carolyn’s turn to roll her eyes. “Of course he loves you. You just have to ask him. Now, I do believe you have said something about drinks?”

 

*

 

Martin looked up in surprise when Carolyn and Tony walked in together, holding the drinks that the billionaire had promised them. He looked at Carolyn, hoping that she would tell him what had happened between the two of them, but she ignored him in favour of putting down the drinks she was holding.

Then he turned his look to Tony, in the hope that he’ll tell him something, but he was already being the entertainer, pouring everybody drinks. A bit upset, Martin got up and walked towards the door. He also needed to pay the smallest room in the house a brief visit.

He had already left the room by the time that Phil nodded at Clint and the two of them got up, following Martin wherever he went. The two of them quickly caught up with the pilot and Clint called out to him. “Martin!”

The man turned around, startled, to face the two others. “Ah… uh… gentlemen. How can I help you?”

Clint shook his head as he moved to pin the man against the wall. “Don’t you dare abandon him.”

“What my friend tries to say, is that you can’t leave Tony. He’ll be heart broken.” Phil sighed and tried to pull the archer away from the pilot. Neither of them moved. “And we might not be able to put him back together.”

“I…. uh…. Why would… why would I abandon him?” Martin looked nervous as he was pinned against the wall. “Look, Clint, I can call you Clint, right? I mean, I don’t want to be disrespectful or anything…”

Clint relaxed slightly and nodded. “Yeah, you can. It’s better than Hawkguy.”

Martin blushed brightly as he continued what he was saying. “Look, Clint, I don’t want to abandon him. I… I love him. Why would I leave someone I love?” He looked so open and vulnerable as he said those words. “I get it that you’re trying to protect his feelings, that you don’t want him to get hurt or anything, but… You have to believe me when I say that I want the same. The… the mere thought of him being heartbroken… I can’t stand it.”

Phil had a soft smile on his face as he pulled the archer away, successfully this time. “I think that Tony has finally found someone that suits him and who’ll never leave him.” He sounded pleased with that fact. “Martin, sorry for this, but we had to make sure that you weren’t going to hurt him.”

Clint moved away so nonchalantly, that Martin almost believed that it had all been just a small accident, that he had simply fallen against him or something. But no, he really had been pinned against the wall mere seconds ago.

“I… of course I won’t. I think I should be offended by the fact that you even think that.” Martin shook his head. “And now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to the loo.” And after those words, Martin pushed the two men aside and he disappeared.

Clint shook his head fondly. “Once he stops stuttering, he’s quite impressive.”

Phil nodded in agreement and smiled softly. “Yeah, he really is. And he should know that.”

 

*

 

The evening went by quite peacefully. There were no accidents, no fighting between either of the Avengers or any of the crew members of MJN. Tony was pleased when, at the end of the evening, everybody seemed appropriately drunk. And with Martin by his side, he couldn’t help but enjoy the entire evening. They never even stopped touching for a single second, in fact. Tony was in heaven that evening, drunk with happiness.

When everybody started to go to their rooms – Clint and Phil were the first to go, they had been touching each other all evening as well, stealing kisses all the time – Tony got up and pulled Martin to his feet as well. “I believe I haven’t shown you any of my toys in the shop yet.”

Martin looked confused for a moment until he realized Tony was talking about his suits. “Do you have many toys then?”

“Oh yes I do.” The man smiled. “And I’ll show you.”

Martin nodded approvingly and wrapped his arms around Tony, forgetting for a moment that there were others in the room. He pulled the billionaire in a soft, tender kiss. He pushed him away before it could grow into anything more and walked towards the door. Tony got up and with a wink to the others, he followed his lover to wherever the man wanted to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Tony showing off his suits and in the morning, the two groups get together to plan on how to make the two idiots tell each other that they love the other.


	3. The showing off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was long overdue. I'm sorry.  
> Thanks for reading, kudo'ing and commenting. (It makes my day every single time)

"... And this is the latest model, Mark 48. I had a bit of a fall back a year or three ago, when most of my suits were destroyed." Before Martin could ask what had happened, the engineer held up his hand. "It was necessary to get my girlfriend at the time to stay with me. Well, she's still with me, in the sense that she's still working for Stark Industries, she's obviously not still _with_ me, not while I'm with you, I should probably stop talking now."

Martin had been looking at him with a fond smile, like he found the rambling adorable and Tony didn't quite know if he liked being looked at like that. If it was anyone else who'd do that, he'd probably punch him or her out of the sky.

"I'm not worried about your exes, Tony, I'm perfectly fine with them, alright?" Martin pressed a soft kiss to the man's cheek. "Besides, I heard the stories from before..." He gestured to the suits around hm. "You know, all this."

"Good. Neither am I." He hummed. "On the subject though, how many exes do you have?"

Martin sighed and for a moment, it seemed like he was mumbling "not this game again." Tony frowned, a bit surprised. He had never been ashamed of his previous girlfriends - well, the one. Pepper. He wasn't too proud of his one night stands, granted, but, hey, that was who he had been back then.

"If you don't wanna talk about it, that's fine, you know." He said, softly, trying to get the pilot to loosen up again. "I totally get it. I think it's hard to talk about my one girlfriend as well, sometimes, but the entire country knew we were a thing, so sometimes, I just have to, you know." He was rambling again. Why could this man bring out the man behind the suit, who rambled like an idiot when he was around the pilot?

"Well..." Martin looked up, biting his lip. "Since you've only had one... I have four exes." He swallowed tightly before he turned his back to Tony so he could lean against his chest. "The last one being the princess of Lichtenstein."

"You went out with Theresa?" Tony let out a disbelieving laugh - which he immediately realized he shouldn't have done.

The pilot moved away from him and turned around, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "What do you mean _you went out with Theresa_?" He glared at the engineer. "Please explain it to me, Anthony. What do you mean by that?"

Tony winced only slightly at the use of his longer name - the only one who used it was his father, Howard, and he kind of had been trying to forget him - before holding up his hands in defence. "I didn't mean anything by it, sweetie. I merely... I am simply pleasantly surprised. And happy for you. I mean, not that it ended, well, I kind of am. Dang it, I'm doing it again." He looked at the pilot with more honestly in his eyes than ever before. "How do you get this to happen? How do you get me to ramble on and on?"

Martin smiled - it had something of a smirk - and shook his head fondly. "I have no idea, but I like it. I really do."

"You're mean, you know that?" Tony pouted at him.

"But you like me anyway." Martin grinned and pulled Tony into another kiss.

"Yeah, I do." He mumbled. "God help me."

 

*

 

The two of them disappeared to the bedroom soon after that, not even saying goodnight to the others who were still in the living room. Not that they expected it - they knew that once the two of them left, they wouldn't return for the rest of the night. So one by one, they all went to bed - for the people from MJN, it was already getting really early.

In fact, they didn't meet up again till breakfast the next morning. Well, Tony and Martin were still in bed, but that didn't stop the other from talking about them.

"So, what do you think about Martin?" Carolyn asked nobody in particular. She looked at her son who was currently enjoying pancakes who were drowning in maple syrup.

"He's a decent guy." Phil admitted, while sipping his second cup of coffee of the morning. Clint hummed in agreement, holding his mug in two hands, warming them up.

She raised her eyebrow at the two men. She didn't like Martin being called just _decent_ , but she could return the favour. "Well, Stark's decent too. If he ever gets over the fact that he bloody loves Martin and admits it to the world - or at least to him."

"I could say the same about Martin, you know." Clint said, nonchalantly.

"Oh I see, these are the idiots who are too scared to admit that they love each other?" The manager smirked.

"Well, or too stubborn." Douglas mixed himself in the conversation. "I've known Martin to be stubborn over less important things."

"We need to get them to admit they love each other. It's easy as that." Carolyn said.

"Well, whatever you call easy." Clint huffed softly. "But that sounds like a plan."

"Good." The manager smiled and she was about to make plans, but the two idiots they had been talking about came walking into the room, both dressed in an SI shirt and joggings. They both had an impressive case of bed hair and they were snuggling against each other as they sat down at the breakfast table.

"Morning everybody." Martin said softly while he beamed with happiness. "Sleep well?"

Clint had a mischievous smirk on his lips, but Phil glared at him, making him not reply to the question the captain had asked. He pouted at him, but Phil just ruffled his hair and ignored the man.

"We did, thank you." Carolyn smiled up at the pilot, she was in one of her rare nice moods.

Martin smiled warmly at her before grabbing some of the food that was standing on the table. Tony followed his example and they both ate in peace, not knowing about what the Avengers and the MJNers were going to plan.

 

*

 

Tony and Martin soon found an excuse to leave the breakfast table again - and nobody was surprised. But, contrary to what everyone believed, the two of them didn't go _at it_. Tony tried, certainly, but Martin was not in the mood. He wanted to see how Tony worked, what he was like when he was in his workshop. So when the pilot proposed just that, the engineer couldn't refuse that offer.

"You're sure that you won't get bored while I'm working?" The man asked, he was genuinely worried that the pilot wouldn't know what to do.

"Yes, Tony, I'll be fine. I'll just... Read a bit in the manual or something." Martin shrugged before he leaned closer to the inventor. "Or I'll just watch you." He grinned widely at Tony.

The engineer sighed and gave in. "Alright, alright." He pressed a soft kiss to Martin's forehead. "I trust you to keep yourself busy."

"Thank you." The captain smiled back at him. _I love you_.

Tony merely smiled before the two of them made their way downstairs, to his workshop. Martin couldn't help but smile as he watched the engineer dart over to his workbench and start to work. Martin sat down in the corner of the room and looked at the robot who was trying to mix some sort of drink for the two of them. He waved at the robot and he - she? It? - looked up at him, tilting his little head. "Who's this?" He asked softly.

Tony looked up immediately and when he saw that Martin was standing next to one of his robots, he shrugged. "That's Dum-E. First robot I made."

"When did you make it?" Martin looked closer at the small robot and patted its head. "He looks like he could use some attention, to be honest."

"It's a robot, Martin, he doesn't need attention. It's not like he'll whine when he's left alone." Tony raised his eyebrow at the pilot. "And I made him when I was ten."

"Ten?!" He sounded almost shocked as he heard that. "What were you, some kind of child genius?"

Tony looked a bit embarrassed. "Yeah. I mean, weren't you?"

"No!" Martin cried out. "I wasn't. I wouldn't be a pilot for an airdot if I was."

"Hey, hey, okay, I get it." Tony held his hands up in defence. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"Okay..." The pilot mumbled as he looked down. "I get it, I understand that you honestly thought that everybody was like you. You didn't have any siblings, I take it?"

"No." That was all he said, he didn't sound like he was in the mood to talk about his parents or why he didn't have siblings.

"Well, I do." He crossed his arms as he looked at the engineer. "I do and they didn't really give me a great time growing up. Even more, I was convinced that I wasn't worth anything because of them. My father... He always favoured my other two siblings."

Tony didn't know what to say, Martin could see it in his eyes.

"And when I finally got out of secondary school, I was convinced that I wanted to become a pilot. I took tests to get into the right schools, I did everything I could and study as much as I could but I had to take the test three times before I got in. My parents have paid so much money to get me where I am now." He looked down and sighed. "My father died a month before I got my first job. He left me his van and some tools. He didn't even leave me a note to give it up and become an electrician." When he was done, he took a deep breath as he looked over at Tony. He had no idea why he had told this all to the engineer.

"Martin..." Tony mumbled eventually, walking over to the pilot and wrapping him in his arms. "I... I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything." Martin said, pushing himself away from the man, even if it's just a tiny bit. "I don't need your pity."

"I do not pity you, Martin." The engineer protested. "I..." He shook his head. _I love you_. "I don't pity you."

Martin shook his head. "You work on your suit, Stark, I'll go upstairs, go lay down a bit. I'm tired."

"Yeah, of course." Tony swallowed tightly and walked back to his workbench. "I'll see you later?"

Martin made a non-committed noise before he walked upstairs again, back to where the others of MJN were still sitting around the breakfast table.

 

*

 

As soon as the pilot had left, Tony shouted in frustration and ran his hands up in his hair, tugging at it. Why did he have to ruin this? Why did he hurt the man he cared about most? He knew he should have said something at least, rather than telling Martin that he didn't know what to say. He could be such an idiot sometimes.

He was still sitting in the same position when someone walked in on him. "Tony?"

He looked up at Steve, who was standing there. "What's up, cap?"

"Got a new mission. Suit up, we're going to Sokovia."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next: Stubbornness, missions, shouting.


	4. Sokovia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is getting out of hand. This was supposed to be five chapters of fluff, but now we're actually getting kind of angsty. I have three more chapters planned in my head, for now, but it is possible that there will be more in the end. Huh. We'll see.  
> Anyway.  
> Thank you for reading, kudo'ing and commenting!

"Shit!"

"Language!"

Tony rolled his eyes at Steve. He had been distracted by Martin - he was genuinely worried about him, they had left off on an argument and Tony could only hope that the man would still be there when he returned from this mission - and hadn't noticed the shield over the building.

"So no-one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said _language_?"

It was a lame attempt to deflect the fact that he hadn't noticed the energy shield - and hadn't asked JARVIS either. Anyway, the others didn't seem to have noticed that he wasn't with his mind at the battle - not completely anyway. With JARVIS' help, he got the shield down and got inside, along with the rest of the Avengers. He made his way into the lab - "We need to talk." - and waited for the scientists and soldiers to stop shooting him before he grinned. "Good talk."

"We didn't talk." A single man groaned softly before he lost consciousness. _What_ _great last sentence_ , Tony thought, smirking to himself.

He could hear the message that Hawkeye was hit while he was getting the data from the main computer. He hated the fact that someone had gotten hurt, but at least they had something, right? Then JARVIS informed him that there was an air current - "Please be a secret door, please be a secret door." - and when it opened a soft "Yay" escaped him.

And there it was, the sceptre.

Tony reached to grab it, not noticing one of the twins sneaking up on him.

 

_He had a bad feeling in his gut as soon as he watched the chitauri creature move towards him. He was still not sleeping extremely well - not when he was alone, anyway. Martin seemed to keep the nightmares at bay, which was something he was very grateful for. As soon as he could see a pile of bodies, he rushed towards them, hoping that his boyfriend wasn't there, wasn't among them. He hoped - and yes, he realized that this was mean - that it was only the Avengers he'd find there, nobody else._

_He let out a relieved breath when he spotted all the Avengers, but Martin, nor his crew, seemed to be among the victims. When Steve grabbed his hand and pulled him towards him, the full extent of the situation hit him. The Avengers were down. Dead. And it was all his fault._

_"You let us all down." Steve mumbled and when his eyes closed, his hand fell down and pointed to someone behind Tony._

_With a heavy heart, he turned around to see who Cap was pointing at._

_It dropped as soon as he saw Martin, on the floor, blood coming out of his mouth. "T-t-tony..." The captain whispered. "W-w-where are you?"_

I'm right here, buddy _, he wanted to say, but his mouth wouldn't move, his voice wasn't working._

_"T-Tony, please..." His heart broke as he listened to Martin beg. "Don't leave me alone, I-I'm so confused... Wha-what happened? Why have you left me, Tony?"_

_Tony rushed to his side, tried to grab the captain's hand, but his own went straight through it._ No! Martin, please don't leave me, I don't think I can go on without you. Please don't die, I love you. I love you so much and I haven't even told you yet.

_A tear rolled down his cheek as the vision ended._

"Tony, come in. Do you have the staff or not?" Steve asked, as if he had been asking that over and over again instead of laying dead on the ground.

The engineer swallowed tightly and wiped the tear away before he spoke again. "Yeah, I got it. I'll be at the Quinjet in a few minutes."

For once, he was glad for the protection the armour gave him, since nobody would be able to see his face, not unless he opened the faceplate. He arrived at the Quinjet, looked at Barton who was seriously injured - Coulson was going to give him shit for that - handed the staff to Steve and sat down behind the wheel, not talking for the rest of the ride back home.

 

*

 

As soon as Martin had gotten the message - it was Coulson who had told him, for crying out loud - that Tony would be leaving on a mission, his heart dropped. Yeah, sure they just had a fight - their first one - but he didn't want the engineer to leave him now, before they had even had a chance to solve their problem. So he followed Coulson - the man insisted that he called him Phil, but that was way too personal and he hadn't actually heard anyone call him that except Clint and he didn't want to offend the archer, not after last night where he had been pinned against the wall - to the room where the agent would be monitoring the entire mission.

He could hear the Avengers plan what they were going to do once they got there and Martin couldn't help but smile as the jokes flew around while they were planning. He didn't say a single word, but he could hear Coulson talk to Clint, he could hear the two of them flirt - nobody said a single thing about it, which made him suspect that this happened often.

When the actual fighting started, he stayed for about a minute before he realized that that wasn't going to work. He left the room, filled with worries and images about Tony getting shot and dying without him close enough to help it.

When he got up to leave, Coulson threw him a sympathetic look - after all, his boyfriend/husband/whatever the two of them were was there as well, fighting, a chance of getting hurt. He got out of the room, took a deep breath and decided that he wanted to distract himself, so he went to the cinema room - he couldn't believe Tony had an entire room dedicated to watching movies with a large group on a huge screen - and put on his favourite movie. He was about to press _play_ when Carolyn walked in with Douglas and Arthur.

"Aw, Carolyn, no!" He sighed. He had hoped to be able to watch the movie on his own - it was rather emotional at times and he wasn't going to admit to the rest of MJN that he was crying because of a movie.

"Martin, we need to talk." She said in her _I don't want any nonsense_ voice.

"What movie are you going to watch, skip?" Arthur chimed in, about something completely different. Martin ignored him.

"I don't want to talk, I just want to watch this movie and actually forget that my boyfriend is out there somewhere, getting shot at." Martin did his absolute best not to whine, but he was pretty sure he failed.

"Because if it's a good one, I'm going to join you." Arthur smiled, but he was still being ignored by all parties.

"This is important, Martin." Douglas was on _her_ side, of course he was. "This is about MJN."

Martin gave up, MJN was pretty important to him, so he waved at the two of them that they could go on.

"Or could I pick the movie?" Arthur was still going, as if he didn't realize that he was being ignored.

"Douglas and I have been having these little chats about the future of the company. We would understand completely if you were to decide to come and live with Tony, here, in America." The captain was about to interrupt her, but Carolyn held up her hand to stop him. "We would understand. We would miss you, of course, but we can see how much you love him and how happy he makes you, so we won't stand between you and your happiness."

"Carolyn..." Martin looked up at the two of them, shaking his head slightly. "I am not going to leave MJN, not for all the money in the world. I actually like you guys and..." He took a shaky breath. "And you.. you might have become kind of my family." He mumbled quickly.

"Aw, Martin.." Carolyn sighed. "We can't possibly ask you to stay in England so that you can actually work with us. We can't ask you to give up your boyfriend. Douglas and I have already found a solution to find a new pilot."

Martin shook his head. "No, Carolyn, I won't. I'm going to stay with you guys, because you also need me. More than Tony does."

"You need to think this through, Martin." Douglas said. "How do you think Stark will react to that in the long run?"

"Doesn't matter, Douglas, because we have found a way till now and we will find a way in the future as well." He crossed his arms. "I am not going to leave you and now could you please all leave me alone so I can watch this movie?" The last words came close to being shouted and the MJN crew left the room - Arthur was very disappointed, he had been looking forward to watching a movie with skip.

 

*

 

The movie was over way too soon - the mission wasn't over yet - but Martin wasn't in the mood to start a second one, so he returned to the room where Coulson was still monitoring the mission. The agent looked rather distressed and when he asked what was wrong, he was told that Clint had been hit and that the Avengers were waiting for Tony to collect what they had come for so they could leave.

"Wait, Tony is all alone out there?" Martin asked, nervousness spreading through him once again.

"Stark can handle himself." Coulson said. The engineer wasn't the man he was worried about.

"What if something happens? What if someone attacks Tony and he can't defend himself?" Panic was spreading in the man's voice as he stared at the agent, wanting him to understand him.

That was the moment when Tony's voice came through. "Got what we were looking for, making my way back now."

Martin relaxed again and sat down next to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "Thank God." He whispered, hoping that he would soon get the message that they were all in the Quinjet and that they were all completely fine.

Coulson looked at Martin and placed his hand on the pilot's shoulder. "Imagine what this must be like when you're in England and only have the news to keep you up to date."

Martin pretended that he hadn't heard those terrible words.

 

*

 

Tony made it back to the Tower without any annoying questions about what had happened or what he had seen - he was pretty sure a sob had escaped him at some point, but he didn't know for sure and nobody was talking about it. He had put JARVIS on autopilot, but he still pretended to fly the plane because he didn't want to talk.

He kept seeing Martin die, over and over again and yes, alright, he realized that the pilot hadn't really died, he had only come close to dying, but it had been pretty clear to Tony that he would die in the foreseeable future - of that vision.

The Quinjet hadn't even landed, or he could already see Martin standing there, flanked by his entire crew and - of course - Agent. A wide grin spread on his face as he ran out of the jet, lifted his faceplate and ran towards Martin. He took him in his arms and kissed him like it had been ages since they had seen each other.

Martin's anger had dissolved as soon as the engineer had pulled him in his arms and he was now kissing him back, enthusiastically. When he needed to breathe again, he laughed awkwardly and pushed Tony away ever so slightly.

"What happened to you on that mission?" He joked. "Did someone die?"

Tony winced slightly and looked everywhere but at Martin or one of his fellow Avengers. Coulson for example. The man was running past, guiding Clint's stretcher inside, to the med bay in the Tower. Agent looked absolutely pissed and completely relieved at the same time. Yeah, he was pissed that Clint had risked his life and had gotten hurt, but at the same time he was so relieved that he still had his archer, that he hadn't died yet.

With one arm wrapped around his Martin - he needed to make sure that the man was actually still there, even if he could actually see him - he walked inside, where he took off the armour and pulled Martin into an empty room. They needed to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: they talk, Martin panics, Tony tinkers and there's a party.


	5. Back in the Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For now, there will be two more chapters, following the rest of Age of Utron and the aftermath for MArtin and Tony. I hope you like this chapter.  
> Thanks for reading, kudo'ing and commenting.

Martin didn't try to struggle as Tony pushed him into the room, thinking that the engineer just wanted to show him just how much he missed him, just how sorry he was about the fight, but once he was inside, Tony just pushed him down on the bed. He himself started to pace.

"Tony, what's wrong?" The pilot frowned at the man. "What happened on the mission?"

Tony shrugged, like he didn't know, like he didn't want to tell him what had happened. He just continued pacing. After a couple of minutes, he looked straight at Martin, his voice much more fragile than before. "Martin, promise... Promise me that you'll never join me on a mission, alright? Promise me that."

Martin's frown only grew deeper as he looked back at him. "What do you mean? I... I never would... I'm sorry, but I'm not a fighter. But... But why would you ask that?" He got on his feet again and stopped Tony from pacing by grabbing his wrist. "Tony." His voice was as stern as it was ever going to get. "What happened?"

"I can't tell you, Martin, just... promise me, alright?"

"Alright, alright, I promise. Has it something to do with S.H.I.E.L.D.? And things like... debriefing and stuff?"

Tony looked relieved when the pilot promised to stay away from missions. "Thank you, Marty." He pulled the man in his arms and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome? I still have no idea what you're talking about, but, hey, if it makes you feel better." Martin smiled a bit awkwardly as he wrapped his arms tightly around the engineer. "I..." _I love you_ _either way_.

"Yes?" Tony looked up at him and Martin was having the hardest time not to tell him. He wanted to, he really did, but he was scared that if he did, things would go wrong. He was still waiting for Tony to grow tired of him and to tell him that he didn't want to see him anymore.

"Nothing, I was just..." He shook his head and looked away. "Never mind."

Now Tony was frowning, but he didn't say anything, all he did was press a soft kiss to Martin's forehead before he moved away. "We found something on the mission and I need to work on it a bit. I'll see you at dinner, alright?"

Martin nodded. "Alright, sweetheart. Have fun with whatever you're going to do." He smiled ever so slightly. "I'll see you later." He watched Tony leave and he couldn't help but hear _I don't want to see you anymore. Ever_.

 

*

 

Tony was determined to find a way to protect Martin, to make some sort of suit without the pilot noticing it. He couldn't risk losing the pilot, not the man he loved so much. So he went to his workshop, where the spear was already there. He smiled and started to investigate. It was only when JARVIS was trying to make contact with the computer in the crystal of the spear and Bruce had left him to it, that Tony found some time to start tinkering himself. He was going to make Martin a suit.

He didn't even realize that almost three days had gone by when Bruce walked in to come and get him for the party. He had only slept a couple of hours the night before, he had been too busy making that thing for Martin. He looked up at his Science Bro and smiled.

"Just let me take a shower and get a change of clothes, alright? I'll be there in a tic."

"Hey, Martin's rubbing off on you." Bruce said, talking about the British expression the engineer had used.

Tony winced when the scientist mentioned the name of his boyfriend. He hadn't seen the pilot ever since he had disappeared in his workshop and he was pretty sure that the others had explained to him that that was perfectly normal, but he still felt a bit guilty about it.

"What's wrong, Tony? Ever since we came back from that mission three days ago, you've been hiding here the entire time."

Tony huffed and shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. Why has something to be wrong?"

"Tony..."

_How could the doctor sound so disappointed?_ Tony wondered. "I'm fine, Bruce. And I'm going to take a shower and get changed now, alright? I'll be back as soon as I can." The engineer got up on his feet and walked out of the workshop, straight to the closest shower he could find.

 

*

 

Every meal that Tony didn't appear at the table, the insecurity inside Martin grew. He knew that Tony was probably working on something important - it was the logical thing - but he couldn't help but think that Tony stayed away because he didn't want to see him anymore. The second day, Martin didn't leave his bed, even when Arthur came banging on his door, asking if the pilot wanted to watch a movie with him. Not even when Douglas came knocking, asking if he was coming to lunch. Not even when Carolyn walked in, demanding that he left that bloody bed and stopped moping around.

He ignored all of them and just curled up on his bed a bit more, ignoring everyone and everything around him. He didn't look up when he heard someone come in. He definitely didn't look up when the person who walked in sat down next to him on his bed.

"Go away." He mumbled. "I don't want to talk to anyone."

"Martin, it's no use to hide here in the room." A soft, friendly voice said. "You should take a shower, get something to eat. Anything."

That was when Martin finally looked up at who had walked in. It was Phil with Clint standing behind him. The archer didn't say anything, but simply walked over to the pilot, pulling him in a hug.

"I'm not hungry." Martin mumbled softly as he hid his face in Clint's shoulder. "I don't want any food."

"Phil, could you please leave the two of us alone for a moment?" Martin was surprised that Clint was actually asking for his boyfriend to leave, while he suspected that it had probably been Phil's idea to come here in the first place.

Phil nodded and left the room. Clint was trying desperately not to look guilty. As soon as the agent had left, the archer opened his mouth. "I know how you feel, Martin." He said, softly. "I know how it feels to be not enough for... for the one you love. I'm still waiting for the day that Phil will call me over and tell me that he wants to file a divorce."

"You're married?" Martin sounded surprised as he looked up at the man. He moved slightly away from the archer, not wanting to get between a married couple.

"Yeah. Seven years now." A fond smile appeared on the man's lips. "And I wouldn't want it any other way, but... We went through a tough period a couple of years ago. Phil... died..." He swallowed tightly, it was clear that he wasn't comfortable talking about it. "He died and our director, he did anything he could to bring him back to life. And he succeeded, but he didn't tell me for quite a long time. I knew that Phil was still alive, I had access to the S.H.I.E.L.D. files about him, but I thought he didn't want me anymore... I thought... I thought that he had grown tired of me and that he didn't ever want to see me anymore..."

"Clint..." Martin whispered softly, pulling the archer in another tight hug. "Thank you for telling me."

The man swallowed tightly before he nodded. "It's just... I know that Tony... That he's not always the greatest boyfriend, I know, but he really does care about you. More than I have ever seen him care about anyone except Pepper. He's... Something happened on the mission, everybody knows, but nobody talks about it. I think he's hiding from you, that he doesn't want you to find out what is wrong."

"So... You think something's wrong?" He asked softly. "You think something happened to Tony that he doesn't want me to know?"

Clint nodded. "I've seen him in the lab, I think he's making something to protect you, some kind of suit. I think that he's scared. And I think you should talk to him."

"Thank you, Clint." Martin smiled softly. "I... I'll go try."

Clint took a deep breath, tried to pull himself back together and left the room, after a soft pat on Martin's shoulder. "I'll see you at dinner, bro."

"Yeah, see you at dinner." Martin looked better, a bit happier when Clint left the room again. He pushed himself up and went to take a shower before he went out again, as if the rest of the day hadn't happened.

 

*

 

When Tony got out of the shower, he could already hear the party going on downstairs. He couldn't help but wonder if Martin was there, waiting for him, wanting to dance with him, even though he hadn't been there for three days. He quickly put on his fancy suit and made his way downstairs, putting on the fake smile he always used when he needed to go out in public situations, with other people who weren't his friends.

He scanned the room, trying to find his boyfriend again. He had missed him while he had been working, but at least he had a suit for him now, in case something happened to him. His fake smile turned genuine when he spotted Martin, standing in the corner of the room, talking to Arthur. He rushed over to the pilot.

"Martin." He placed his hand on the man's shoulder, trying to get his attention. "Hey, sweetie." He said softly before brushing his lips against the other's.

Martin turned around, pulling the engineer in his arms, deepening the kiss. "Hey there, honey. Finally done tinkering?" He asked with a fond smile.

"Yeah. Well, sorry I've been in there for so long. I should've... I should've told you something." He smiled apologetically, scratching the back of his neck.

"Hey, it's okay. I... Clint talked to me yesterday, it helped." He leaned against Tony's chest, smiling softly. "He's an amazing man, you know that? Phil's lucky to have him."

"Yeah, I know. The two of them are an amazing couple." Tony tried to push down the jealousy he felt when the pilot told him nonchalantly that Clint had talked to him, when he himself should've been there, but he couldn't. He knew that the archer was married, that he loved Agent with all his heart, and yet he couldn't stop himself from wanting to beat him up for it.

"I'm glad you're here now." Martin cupped Tony's cheek. "I've missed you."

Tony smiled and wrapped his arms a little tighter around the pilot. _I'm never letting you go_.

 

*

 

The party went on till the late evening and it ended with all of the Avengers - and the present boy/girlfriends - and MJN sitting on the sofa, joking around. They were all joking around, trying to lift the hammer and nobody seemed to be able to lift it, except Steve, the hammer moved ever so slightly when the captain tried to pick it up.

"Hey, Martin, why don't you try?" Tony said with a wide grin on his face, poking the pilot's side gently.

"Do you really think that I can lift that?" He shook his head in amusement. "It looks really heavy."

"Come on, sweetie, just try, you never know." Tony simply wanted to know if it had something to do with strength or not - he knew it was selfish to ask Martin, especially because he asked him because he didn't really have any powers or strength to use.

Martin eventually shrugged and got up, reaching out for the hammer. He wrapped his hand slowly and carefully around the handle of the hammer. He glanced briefly at Tony - and Thor after that - before he tried to lift it up.

And of course when he could feel the hammer move, something burst into the room and tried to attack them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: a battle, Martin bonds with Phil and Tony fights some more.


	6. Sokovia (Again)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This series exists for a year today! Yay! I know that it has been on a long hiatus, but enjoy the second to last chapter. I think there's one last chapter that I need to wrap it all up with a nice bow.  
> So, for this very special day - this series first anniversary - and to a certain extend the celebration that I've been writing fanfic for a year - have an extra long chapter (Well, more or less. I tried, guys, I tried.)  
> Thanks for reading, kudo'ing and commenting.

Everything went incredibly fast when the robot arrived in the living room they were all sitting rather comfortably. First of all, Martin was really disappointed that nobody had seen him move the hammer - not even Thor, who had been keeping a close eye on whoever was yielding the hammer. Secondly, the robot who had slowly walked in started talking about being worthy.

Tony immediately got into 'superhero mode' as Martin called it, along with the rest of the Avengers. The robot - who turned out to be Ultron - sent, as soon as he was done talking, his minion at them and the Avengers started fighting.

Martin looked at Tony first, appreciating how the man looked in the first place, before he turned to the MJN crew, panic spreading in his chest. He didn't want them to get hurt. He knew that they could probably look better after themselves than he could, but he still tried to rush over to them to get them safe.

But a shout got his attention. Martin turned towards the man who shouted - it turned out to be Tony, surprise, surprise - only to see something fly towards him at high speed. Martin ducked before he could see what it was, but it slowed down in front of him.

"Get in the suit, Martin!" Tony shouted while he was sitting on the back of one of the robots that Ultron had sent to fight them.

Martin stared at the thing floating in front of him as it opened up and revealed a space he could get in - which he did. The suit closed behind him and it fitted perfectly, as if it was made personally for him. He definitely felt safer in that tin box - it felt like that, kind of - as it brought him to another room, away from the fighting.

_Wait_.

Was this what Tony had been working on the last three days? Had he made this because of that thing he had seen on the mission? Well, the thing that everybody had thought he had seen.

Martin appreciated the rescue from the room with all the fighting, but seriously, what about the rest of his friends? The ones who didn't have a millionaire boyfriend who made them suits to protect them - he needed to remember to thank Tony for this as soon as this was all over. He shouted inside the suit to turn around, hoping that it would work.

The suit turned around so that Martin could see the rest of the MJN crew running inside - Arthur was throwing things he found on the ground towards the robot who was following them - something hit it right before they closed the door, right at the moment that Arthur's latest pebble hit it - and Arthur shouted: "Look, I shot a robot, skip!"

Martin let out a relieved sigh as he saw that they were all safe. "Are you all okay?" He asked softly, his voice coming out louder through the suit.

"Don't worry about us, Martin, we're all fine. What about you?" Carolyn obviously sounded worried - hey, they had just seen murderous robots attack them all, one does not see that every day.

"I'm- uh... I'm fine. I think. I'm currently kind of stuck in this suit, I think." He grinned sheepishly - even though nobody could see it.

"So what do we do now?" Arthur asked. "Defeat more evil robots?" The steward was the only one who actually was excited about this situation they had found themselves in.

"Now we wait."

 

*

 

They waited for about an hour - Coulson let them know that the Avengers disappeared into Tony's lab to discuss the situation and it didn't sound like they were going to come out of there soon. When they finally did though, it was only to inform the MJN crew that they were leaving on a mission again. Tony immediately walked over to Martin and got him out of the suit.

"Thanks, sweetheart." Martin pressed a soft kiss to Tony's lips as soon as he could - he wasn't going to let his boyfriend go on another mission without saying goodbye properly, not like he had last time. "Glad that I'm out of there."

"Yeah, I might have overreacted just the tiniest bit. I just... I wanted to keep you safe." Tony hummed softly, pulling the man into his arms. "You're okay, right? You're not hurt?"

Martin shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Perfectly fine. A hundred percent fine. I couldn't be any better." The pilot tried to comfort the man as good as he possibly could. "Don't worry about me. Go on your mission, save the world and when you return, I'll still be here. I promise."

"Thank you." Tony stole another kiss before he let go of Martin and walked towards the door. "I'll see you in a couple of days, honey bums!" He said, cheerfully, as he walked out.

"Wait, can't we come along and fight the evil robots as well?" Arthur asked, kind of disappointed. "I mean, I took one down."

Tony looked amused at the small steward and shook his head. "I've got the most important mission for you, Arthur. You get to keep the person I care about safe."

When the twenty nine year old threw a confused look at the engineer, Tony explained further. "Martin."

A wide grin spread on Arthur's face as he nodded. "I will, Iron Man. I promise. I will keep him as safe as I can."

"Good, now I can go on the mission without any worries about him."Tony finally left the room, only to leave a captain behind who was already missing him, a steward who was determined to stay five inches away from said captain and an amused first officer and manager.

 

*

 

Martin once again found himself in a room with Coulson - it was a different room since the original one had been destroyed during the first fight with Ultron - listening in on the comms of the mission. Looking around awkwardly, Martin tried to listen to the sounds of fighting without actually wanting to run over there so that he could protect Tony by himself.

About an hour or two into the fight - it looked like the actual fight with the robot was over, but now the entire team was down and Tony was fighting Bruce - well, the Hulk - Coulson turned the sound off. He asked FRIDAY to alert them when something important was happening before he turned towards Martin.

"I told you to imagine how this would be when you'd be back in England while Tony was fighting, have you done that?" The Agent asked. It was clear that the man actually wanted him here permanently, to keep Tony in check just a little bit.

"I have. And I don't think that there's much difference between sitting around here, having you to talk to, or seeing it on the news when I wake up in the morning, after a good night's sleep." Martin had already told his crew that he was going to stay in England, he knew that he and Tony could make it work, even when they weren't in the same country - or the same continent for all that mattered.

"Think again, captain Crieff. What if he got hurt? You'd be a seven hour flight away. In the best situation. Even when you can get into your plane immediately and fly straight here, you can still be too late to save him. Or see him as he passes away. This is a dangerous job and every mission is a risk."

"What are you trying to say, Agent Coulson?" Martin wanted to wrap his arms, but then he realized that the man was his superior - after all, he was only a pilot - so he just did something awkward with his arms that wasn't quite crossing them, but it made it clear that he wanted to.

"I want you to stay here, help me as a handler of the Avengers team. You seem to have a calming effect on Stark, and someone who does is not easy to find. The only people who have a calming effect on him are Pepper and Rhodey. And they have very busy jobs of their own."

"But... I promised MJN - I promised Carolyn that I... That I would stay." the pilot mumbled, dropping his arms next to himself, lifeless.

"The one doesn't exclude the other. If I understand correctly, you don't have a booking every single week, right?"The agent asked, his voice soft and gentle.

Martin nodded, barely looking at the man. He knew where this was going, he also knew that it was never going to happen. He wasn't going to leave MJN.

"So how about you move the base of your operations here and then, on your weeks off, you could come here, live here with Tony Stark and his friends, take care of him and in the meantime, you still get to work for MJN and your friends."

The captain blinked a few times. That was actually a pretty good idea. But he wasn't going to tell the agent that, he was already smug enough without knowing this as well. He looked up at the agent and yes, the man was smirking smugly, as if he could read Martin's thoughts and knew that he had won.

"Think about it, Martin. Talk to Mrs. Knapp-Shappey, talk to Mr. Richardson. See what they think. And when they say yes - and you know they will - you get the best of both worlds."

Martin was about to open his mouth to reply to Coulson, but FRIDAY interrupted him.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, sirs, but I'm afraid that I have lost track of the Avengers."

"FRIDAY?" Coulson asked, confused. "What do you mean, you lost track of the Avengers? You're tracking both the Quinjet and the Iron Man suit, how can you simply have lost them both?"

The AI was silent for a minute before she admitted that the trackers had been turned off.

"Oh, for crying out loud." Coulson sighed. "Now we have no idea what they are up to or what they are even doing. We're blind, figuratively speaking."

"Thank you for sharing that with me..." Martin mumbled, looking down at his feet. He didn't feel too comfortable with not knowing where the hell his boyfriend was.

"Martin, I'm really sorry, but I have to go talk to some people. And I'm afraid that you can't come along. But let me know what you decided, alright? I can set everything up in five minutes if necessary."

Martin nodded and watched as the agent left the room - and him inside it - alone. Martin sat down and rested his head in his hands, trying to push back the panic that was once again bubbling up.

 

*

 

Tony wasn't at his best. Not during the fight on the African Coast, not during the fight with Banner - he had allowed the Hulk to attack him multiple times in the back because he wasn't thinking clearly. The only moment he wasn't thinking about Martin was when he was actually decoding the nuclear codes in Norway. He was delighted to know that JARVIS was still alive, somehow, hidden in the codes, protecting the nuclear codes from Ultron.

He brought the AI back home, only to find a package delivered to him. A package that contained a synthetic body with a semi formed intelligence. That was when he tried to convince Banner to put JARVIS in the thing they had found.

With some help from the Avengers all round - but mostly Thor - they created the Vision.

While Clint was looking for Nat - who had been taken while she was trying to retrieve the package - Tony took a few minutes off for himself. He desperately wanted to contact Martin, let him know that he was alright, that he didn't need to worry, but he knew that was a bad idea. A terrible idea, even if he used the secure lines of Stark Industries.

When the _suit up_ order finally followed, Tony collected his armour, thinking about the one he had made for Martin. They were going to Sokovia for one last, final battle against Ultron and he was scared. For once, he was actually scared that he might not return from this mission. For once, he was scared because he actually had something to lose now. He had Martin.

The fight was... difficult. Everybody did what they were supposed to do, they fought a lot of Ultron's minions, they stopped the huge meteorite from dropping on earth and killing every single life form out there, they saved an awful lot of people and the most important part of all, they defeated Ultron. Well, Vision did. They found out that S.H.I.E.L.D. still existed and that they were back to being good and how they were supposed to be rather than what they had been when they fell, power obsessed and infiltrated by Hydra.

When the fight was over, Tony's first thought was that he could return to Martin, to the man that he loved. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that he was still covered in sweat and dust and just general dirt, along with the rest of the Avengers. Plus, they kind of were a long flight away from New York. He could only hope that Martin was safe.

 

*

 

It was a week after Tony had left along with the Avengers that he returned. Martin ran towards him as soon as he saw him, walking out of the Quinjet. He pulled him into a tight hug, a deep kiss and after that, he slapped the engineer.

"What the hell, Martin?" Tony huffed, moving away from his boyfriend. "Why did you do that?"

Everybody but Tony knew why Martin had done that, yet nobody said anything.

"We need to talk. Somewhere private. With _nobody_ listening in." Martin glared at the rest of the Avengers and the crew of MJN.

If the others had been so shocked by Martin's strong reaction, they probably would've been terrified.

As Tony and Martin walked away from the group - Tony looked like a puppy who was about to get a beating or something - Arthur whispered loud enough for everybody to hear him. "I like Martin when he's with Iron Man. He's... different."

"That he is, Arthur." Douglas hummed. "That he is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: a shouting match, a dinner date to make up for it and the end of this story.


	7. The engineer's return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, a second chapter in the same day! (Well, there was a day inbetween for me). This is my way to celebrate the fact that this series is a year old.   
> Thank you, once again, for reading, kudo'ing and commenting!

This time it was Tony who had been dragged into a room, but Martin didn't look like he was going to pull the man into a deep kiss and forgive him on the spot. No, on the contrary, Martin pushed him in the corner of the room and crossed his arms as he stood between the engineer and the way out.

"Okay, you've got me here, all alone. What is it, Marty? Did I do something?" Tony asked, half jokingly. "I mean, apart from saving the entire world, that is."

The pilot didn't look impressed. "Anthony Stark." He said, his voice as cold and emotionless as he could manage.

"Don't call me that, I hate being called Anthony..." Tony mumbled as he started to realize the gravity of the situation.

"Anthony Stark." Martin repeated. "You are a dick, you know that? You disappeared." The more Martin talked, the more anger seeped into his voice. "You disappeared and you didn't think to me what had happened? You could've sent me a text, you could've said something over the comms, you know I was listening in!"

"Come on, now, dear, this was just..." But Martin didn't let him finish.

"I had to hear from Phil that you were safe. And he only knew because Clint had sent him a text, telling him that he was on the farm they had brought for when the two of them need a break from all this avenging you do."

"Martin, come on, I knew Clint had sent that text and I..."

"No! No _come on Martin_. We're not going there! Knowing that Clint was going to sent a text is not enough. Do you have any idea how bloody worried I was?! Until Phil told me, I thought you were dead!"

Now it was Tony's time to raise his voice. "Why the hell would you think that? If I were dead, JARVIS would inform you about that immediately!"

"Ah, but JARVIS wasn't here anymore, now was he? He didn't talk to us for the entire time since Ultron, that robot, has attacked us a _week ago_!"

Well, maybe Martin wasn't as unobservant as he sometimes appeared to be. "JARVIS was... He was... preoccupied."

"Yeah, he was preoccupied with keeping your bloody location secret from me!" Martin was definitely shouting now. Tony decided that he didn't like it when he shouted.

"Come on, now Martin, why do you even care so much?" He shouted loudly. "I mean, you could've texted me as well! You don't get to blame me for everything!" He stopped caring about the fact if the others could hear them or not. "You don't get to blame me for anything because I was just trying to keep you safe! I was trying to protect you because _I love you_!"

"Well, _maybe_ I'm worried because _I love you too_!" Martin's face was entirely red, but it wasn't because he was ashamed to admit that he loved the engineer, _au contraire_ , it was out of frustration. He had known that he loved Tony for quite a while now, but he had always been to scared to admit it, even to himself.

Tony didn't quite know how to reply to that. There was a rather awkward silence between the two of them until the engineer opened his mouth again. "Did we just exchange our first _I love you_ s during a fight?"

Now Martin was blushing as he nodded. "I think so, yes. Did you... did you mean it?"

Tony nodded as he stepped closer to Martin, pulling the man in his arms. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you." He whispered, brushing his lips against the pilot's.

"I'm sorry I shouted at you." Martin apologized in his turn. "I should've asked you first, probably." The tops of his ears were burning red and Tony couldn't help but think about how adorable he looked, there in his arms with his ginger hair, his curls and his beautiful green eyes.

"It's okay, Marty, apology accepted." Tony smiled slightly. "You really are beautiful, you know that?" He cupped the man's cheek, smiling quite widely.

"Tony..." Martin looked down, his blush now spreading down his neck.

"No, don't contradict me, sweetheart, you are. The most beautiful man in the world." Tony pressed a kiss to his cheek. "And I love you. God, I am glad I get to say that now." He grinned a wide smile and Martin just couldn't stay mad at him, Tony could see the anger disappear.

"I love you too, Tony." He hummed, beaming with delight as he pulled the engineer towards the bed that was standing so conveniently in the room.

 

*

 

In the living room, the Avengers and the rest of the MJN crew were standing rather awkwardly, listening to the fight between the two men. Arthur, of course, didn't really pay any attention to it - he was asking about something to eat now that everybody was back again - but the rest was desperately trying not to listen to the men shouting at each other.

When they shouted _I love you_ at each other and fell quiet again - at least quiet enough that they couldn't hear them anymore, Clint couldn't help but smirk. "Well, at least we don't have to execute our plan. Because, be honest, it was quite complicated, just to get the two of them to say exactly that to each other."

"Clint..." Phil said softly, sounding disapprovingly. "This is not the moment."

"Aww, come on, Phil, we just saved the world! And none of us is really hurt. The couple that refused to give in to their feelings finally did. This asks for a celebration, doesn't it?" Clint grinned before pressing a kiss to the agent's forehead. "By the way, I love you, dunno if you know that."

Phil rolled his eyes. "You're just trying to manipulate me, Clint and it is working. Let's all celebrate your safe return tonight. That is, once the two rabbits come out of their room again."

The reactions to that were varied between _I don't know what you're talking about and frankly I don't want you to explain_ and _are there rabbits here?! -_ the last one came from Arthur, which surprised nobody.

 

*

 

Martin was positively beaming when he and Tony came out of the room again. The pilot didn't look any different than before - his clothes were straight and not crumbled at all from laying on the floor - while Tony looked positively like he had spent the entire day in bed - which they definitely hadn't. Nope. Anyone who claimed otherwise was wrong, completely wrong. Except Martin. He could claim that, he didn't mind the pilot bragging about that, but he knew that he wasn't going to do that.

"Ah, look who's still alive?" Carolyn almost sneered as the two of them appeared in the living room. "We were about to call for assistance. We thought you had killed each other or something."

"It takes more than a pilot to kill me, my dear Mrs Knapp-Shappey." Tony smirked while he pulled Martin closer to him. Neither of them complained.

"We heard you shouting." Phil said, always the honest one. "We heard everything you two said."

Martin's blush was creeping up again, but Tony laughed it all away. "It wasn't something you weren't allowed to hear, Agent, so don't worry about that. It's all fine. Question, did you know that he loves me and I love him?" When there was no reaction, Tony shook his head rather fondly. "You did, didn't you? Okay, so who betted that I was going to say it first?"

A few hands went up - Douglas, Carolyn and to Tony's big surprise Clint as well.

"Really? Only three of you?" He sounded rather disappointed. "I thought you knew me better."

Everybody laughed softly at that, the air filled with relief.

"I was promised a party!" Clint said, grinning widely. "Come one, everybody, we've got a party to arrange."

 

*

 

Later that evening - after the party when everybody was rather drunk, including Martin and Tony - the pilot and the engineer made their way back to their room, smiling and muttering soft words to one another. They looked like they were an old couple that, after years of living together, was completely attuned to each other and who could read the other's every move.

"Tony..." Martin slurred slightly. "Tony, I'm glad that you came back."

"Why wouldn't I, darling?" The engineer's slur was much more pronounced than the pilot's. "You are everything to me, you know that?"

"I do know that now, yes. You should've told me before. Before you left on that mission, because... I don't know... I don't know what would've happened if you had died out there and I never would've been able to tell you." He brushed his lips against Tony's cheek. "I'd miss you. Terribly."

"Aw, Martin, sweetie..." Tony grinned widely. "I will never die. Not without saying goodbye to you before I do."

"I know that now, Tony, I know that now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already have an idea for a next Martony story - a crossover with the Sherlock Holmes movies with RDJ. If I write this, it'll be a stand alone in the series. Let me know if you want this crossover or if you'd simply prefer a normal story and not a crossover.


End file.
